David Aardsma
David Allen Aardsma (December 27, 1981–) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. In his career, from 2004-2015, he recorded 69 saves. He played for the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, New York Mets and Atlanta Braves. Aardsma attended Cherry Creek High School, which was also the high school of future Major Leaguers like Josh Bard, John Burke, Brad Lidge, Darnell McDonald and Donzell McDonald. He graduated from Cherry Creek High School in 2000. He attended Pennsylvania State University in his freshman year of college. He transferred to Rice University in 2001, where he remained for the rest of his college tenure. At Rice, Aardsma became a dominant closer, where he set school single-season and career saves records in 2002-03. In the 2003 College World Series, Aardsma earned two wins and a save as the Owls won their first national championship. He also retired 15 of the 16 batters he faced at the College World Series. The righthander was drafted in the 1st round (22nd overall) of the 2003 amateur draft by the San Francisco Giants. He went to the San Jose Giants (Class A), and played brilliantly. He posted a 1.96 ERA while striking out 28 in about 18 innings. He made the major-league roster in 2004, skipping AA and AAA, and made his debut in the season's second game. In his major league debut, in front of friends and family at Minute Maid Park, he pitched two innings, allowing three hits and walking one, to earn his first MLB win. In his first 6 appearances, he had a 1.80 ERA (this success did not carry over, as he finished the season with a 6.75 ERA in 11 games: After giving up two runs in one inning on April 20, he was sent down to Fresno, the Giants AAA team, the next day). Aardsma's route through professional baseball has been somewhat unique, given that after making the leap from A ball to the Giants, he was demoted to AAA and then subsequently started the 2005 season in AA. He started the 2006 season with AAA Iowa. Honors and Awards *In 2002, Aardsma was a Summer League First-Team All-American. Other Facts * He is first on the all-time list of Major League Baseball players by alphabetical order. He replaced Hank Aaron as first on the list, and dropped Tommie Aaron (Hank's brother) to third. * He is currently working for the Toronto Blue Jays, as the coordinator of player development. External links *David Aardsma, The Baseball Cube *David Aardsma, MILB *Another David Aardsma Biography *The Aardsma at Urban Dictionary Category:1981 births Category:Living people Category:Major league players from Colorado Category:Major League pitchers Category:Rice Owls players Category:San Jose Giants players Category:Fresno Grizzlies players Category:San Francisco Giants players Category:Chicago Cubs players Category:Chicago White Sox players Category:Boston Red Sox players Category:Players Category:Players who wear/wore number 33 Category:Players who wear/wore number 54 Category:Players who wear/wore number 53 Category:Players who wear/wore number 35 Category:Players who wear/wore number 30